Alexander & Baldwin Inc.’s The Collection condominium project in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako is 94 percent sold, the Honolulu-based company said Thursday in its first quarter earnings report.

The $200 million project, which started construction in October at the former CompUSA lot, includes a 397-unit high-rise tower, a 54-unit mid-rise building, 14 town homes and retails shops and restaurants on the block bounded by Ala Moana Boulevard, Auahi, South and Keawe Streets.

Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE: ALEX) bought the land beneath the project from Kamehameha Schools for $23 million. The project is estimated to be completed in late 2016.

On Thursday, A&B reported a profit of $25.3 million in the first quarter, down from a profit of $35 million in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the first quarter was $150.7 million, compared to $94.8 million in the first quarter last year.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc., which this week closed on the purchase of a seven-story warehouse and office building in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako for $39 million, plans to operate the property as industrial space for the foreseeable future.

“The investment in Kakaako Commerce Center expands our commercial portfolio focus on Hawaii,” Suzy Hollinger, spokeswoman for A&B, told PBN in an email this week. “Kakaako is an increasingly supply-constrained market given the conversion of commercial properties to residential development.”

“Kakaako is the California gold rush,” he told PBN. “That is where to place your money. I think it’s a stable asset that just has a great deal of opportunity now and in the future. The overall market for quality product is just extremely hard to find. There are right now, more buyers than sellers. Kakaako is really just the place to be.”

Located at 875 Waimanu St., the 204,000-square-foot center built in 1971 is home to roughly 45 tenants, including StorQuest Self Storage.

The property, which is located between Waimanu and Kawaiahao streets and has five floors of warehouse space, topped by a sixth floor of office space and a seventh-floor parking deck, has a total property assessed value of about $17 million, according to tax records.

The California firm bought the Kakaako Commerce Center for $15.9 million in 2003.

In 2006, Hawaii developer Peter Savio said he was buying the center, with plans to sell units as commercial condominiums. However, that deal fell through, he told PBN on this week.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has purchased a seven-story warehouse and office building in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako from a California real estate investment firm for $39 million, the company said Monday.

Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE: ALEX) said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday that it had completed the acquisition of the 204,000-square-foot Kakaako Commerce Center, which is located between Waimanu and Kawaiahao streets and has five floors of warehouse space, topped by a sixth floor of office space and a seventh-floor parking deck.

F&F Waimanu Associates LLC, which was formed by Fowler Property Acquisitions LLC, was formerly the owner of the property that has a total property assessed value of about $17 million, according to tax records.

The California firm bought the Kakaako Commerce Center, which was built in 1971 at 875 Waimanu St., for $15.9 million in 2003.

In 2006, Hawaii developer Peter Savio said he was buying the center, with plans to sell units as commercial condominiums. However, that deal fell through, he told PBN on Monday.

An A&B spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a message left by PBN on Monday inquiring about the company’s plans for the newly acquired property.

This rendering shows The Collection, A&B Properties’ planned 466-unit mixed-use condominium project it plans to build on the former CompUSA site in Honolulu’s Kakaako neighborhood.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc.’s real estate subsidiary paid $23 million to Kamehameha Schools to purchase the three-acre former CompUSA lot in Kakaako, the site of the Honolulu-based developer’s 465-unit mixed-use The Collection condominium project, according to public records.

In October, A&B Properties Inc. said it purchased the lot, which is bounded by Ala Moana Boulevard, and Auahi, South and Keawe Streets, from Kamehameha Schools for an undisclosed price.

The $200 million project, which is made up of three residential components — The Tower’s 397 units, The Lofts @ The Collection’s 54 units and 14 urban townhomes — began construction in October at the 600 Ala Moana Blvd. site.

The tower part of the project is more than 75 percent sold, while the lofts sold out within a day. The townhomes are expected to be on the market before the end of the year.

A&B Properties said that Hawaii residents represent 85 percent of buyers to date of the tower and loft components of The Collection.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has purchased a seven-story warehouse and office building in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako from a California real estate investment firm for $39 million, the company said Monday.

Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin (NYSE: ALEX) said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday that it had completed the acquisition of the 204,000-square-foot Kakaako Commerce Center, which is located between Waimanu and Kawaiahao streets and has five floors of warehouse space, topped by a sixth floor of office space and a seventh-floor parking deck.

F&F Waimanu Associates LLC, which was formed by Fowler Property Acquisitions LLC, was formerly the owner of the property that has a total property assessed value of about $17 million, according to tax records.

The California firm bought the Kakaako Commerce Center, which was built in 1971 at 875 Waimanu St., for $15.9 million in 2003.

In 2006, Hawaii developer Peter Savio said he was buying the center, with plans to sell units as commercial condominiums. However, that deal fell through, he told PBN on Monday.

An A&B spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a message left by PBN on Monday inquiring about the company’s plans for the newly acquired property.

Castle & Cooke Inc. will join Hawaii developers such as Alexander & Baldwin Inc. and Stanford Carr Development in developing a residential condominium project in Kakaako as part of landowner Kamehameha Schools’ “Our Kakaako” master plan.

Anthony Ching, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency charged with redeveloping Kakaako, confirmed to PBN that Castle & Cooke would build reserved housing units along Keawe Street between Pohukaina and Auahi streets, Diamond Head of Waterfront Towers.

Castle & Cooke, which is best known for building single-family residential projects, such as Mililani and the recently approved 3,500-home Koa Ridge project, both in Central Oahu, would be stepping into somewhat unchartered waters with this condo project.

“Castle & Cooke being interested shouldn’t be surprising,” Ching said. “Everyone needs to produce inventory to sell. You have to put stuff in the pipeline.”

He also pointed out that the demand for housing is at a fever pitch and that more inventory is greatly needed.

“Urban Honolulu is going to be an attractive area,” Ching said. “Many of our local developers are not into luxury, maybe mid-market or low market.”

The parcel currently has several businesses on it, including Volcanic Rock Gym.

Larry Hurst, chairman of the board, told PBN that the planned project isn’t a high-rise, and instead consists of six stories.

“It’s a good thing,” he said. “They’re looking for a variance on their parking structure.”

Kamehameha Schools did not immediately responded to a request for comment by PBN.

But Bruce Barrett, executive vice president of Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii, told PBN that the developer is in discussions with Kamehameha Schools for the Keawe Street project.

“Discussions are ongoing and we expect to be able to make a formal announcement within the next 60 days,” he said in an email statement to PBN.

The Kamehameha Schools’ Kakaako master plan, which includes nearly 30 acres and nine full-block parcels with 2,750 residential units and commercial space, is beginning to take shape.

In September, PBN first reported that MK Development, a joint venture of well-known Hawaii developers the Kobayashi Group and The MacNaughton Group, is purchasing six acres in Kakaako to develop two luxury mixed-use housing projects totaling about 500 units.

There’s Keola Lai, Waihonua, One Ala Moana and The Collection, four Kakaako high-rise condominium projects either developed, or being developed, or financially backed by Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc.

Alexander & Baldwin wanted to create a “new sense of place” with its Kakaako condo project by naming it The Collection, CEO Stanley Kuriyama said.

Note that only one, The Collection, doesn’t share a Hawaiian name like the other three.

Some in the real estate industry and others have been wondering why A&B chose to go with a name like The Collection as opposed to a Hawaiian name.

That’s why I decided to bring the topic up during a recent one-on-one interview with A&B Chairman and CEO Stanley Kuriyama.

He told me that the company’s first instinct was to go with a Hawaiian name, but they ultimately felt it was time to be different.

“[We] were trying to create a new sense of place,” Kuriyama said inside a boardroom at the historic A&B Building in Downtown Honolulu. “[It’s] a little bit of a break from our tradition, [as we tried to] create a more hip, modern, urban living environment.”

Thus far, The Collection has had a good response with buyers, with nearly 70 percent of the 397 units for the 43-story condo project already sold.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. spent more than three years addressing the discovery of ancient human remains, or iwi, at the site of its Waihonua at Kewalo condominium project in Kakaako, according to Chairman and CEO Stanley Kuriyama.

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. spent more than three years addressing the discovery of ancient human remains, or iwi, at the site of its Waihonua at Kewalo condominium project, Chairman and CEO Stanley Kuriyama told PBN.

Kuriyama told PBN on Thursday that A&B worked with the Oahu Island Burial Council, the state Historic Preservation Division and others to get the situation worked out at the site of the sold-out 43-story, 340-unit project, which has already been built up to the seventh floor.

Remains were found at the site, which is on Waimanu Street across from Ala Moana Center and next to the Hawaiki Tower, which houses KHON-TV.

Honolulu-based A&B said in its second quarter earnings report released earlier this month that 337 units at Waihonua were under binding contracts.

The first units are scheduled to completed by the first quarter of 2015.

Meantime, sales have been strong for another A&B Kakaako condo project, The Collection, where 271 of the 397 units, or about 70 percent of the 43-story tower, have been sold.

Sales for this $200 million project, located at the former CompUSA site, began about a week ago.

HAWAII AMERICANA REALTY

For the past 14 years, Mark G. Howard has practiced his skills as a licensed Realtor in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada and now Principal Broker & President of 'Hawaii Americana Realty', in Honolulu, Hawaii. He has gained a competitive edge in the real estate market by earning his status as an Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR).